Foam beverage insulators, such as the Koozie.TM. brand beverage holder manufactured by Radio Cap Company, Inc., the assignee of the present invention, have been widely accepted as a convenient and comfortable device for holding beverage containers, particularly cans of cold beverages. The foam insulator slows the transfer of heat to the cold beverage and provides a relatively soft, easily deformable surface that provides a pleasing response to the tactile senses when gripped by the hand.
Because of its relatively low cost, foam beverage insulators are desirable advertising tools on which messages or logos can be imprinted. Heretofore foam beverage holders have been generally formed of a single color material and have been difficult, or prohibitively costly, to imprint with more than one color. Multi-color imprinting on foam insulators presently requires transfer printing, a process that is significantly more expensive than a direct screen imprint, or the use of very expensive equipment that optically or mechanically aligns and positions the insulator between successive imprint operations. These high costs are unacceptable when compared with the otherwise low unit cost of producing foam beverage insulators.
Also, beverage cans are sometimes difficult to remove from a foam insulator, often causing tears in the foam. In response to this problem, a cup-shaped liner that fits inside the foam insulator has been produced by Spirit Manufacturing of Leesburg, Fla. The liner is formed of a relatively hard plastic material, has a smooth outer circumferential surface and a reference index tab formed on the exterior bottom of the liner. Attempts to direct screen imprint two or more colors on a foam sleeve encircling the liner, using the reference index tab for alignment, have not been successful due to slipping of the sleeve with respect to the liner between imprints. The alignment of the reference tab prior to each direct screen imprint requires rapid rotation of the liner to the required orientation. To be economically viable, the imprint operation occurs at relatively high speed, and accordingly the spinning and orientation of the liner takes place quickly with high acceleration and deceleration forces being imposed on the assembled liner and sleeve. This has led to angular slippage of the sleeve with respect to the liner resulting in a high percentage of misaligned imprints on the sleeves.
In addition, the liner produced by Spirit Manufacturing has a length that is shorter than the surrounding sleeve. That construction enables the upper end of the sleeve to extend upwardly above the liner, making it difficult to insert or withdraw a beverage can without dragging against the sleeve. Such contact often causes tearing or other damage to the sleeve. Also, during use, the liner can slip with respect to the sleeve so that the bottom of the liner is exposed below the sleeve. The Spirit Manufacturing liner has one or more holes through the bottom of the liner to drain condensation, and consequently when the bottom is exposed below the sleeve, setting the beverage holder on a surface causes water to be deposited, often disadvantageously, on the supporting surface.
The present invention is directed to overcoming the problems set forth above. It is desirable to have a beverage holder with separate liner and foam components in which the liner extends outwardly over the upper end of the sleeve to protect the sleeve and provide positive axial positioning of the liner and sleeve. It is also desirable to have a liner and sleeve that may be formed of different colors to provide a two-tone appearance to the assembled beverage holder. Furthermore, is desirable to have a beverage holder comprising a liner and sleeve that, upon assembly together, are maintained in a fixed radial relationship whereby the assembly can be rapidly positioned and imprinted with different colors, in accurate registration with each other, during multiple direct screen imprinting operations.